


Alternate Christmas Décor

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, Established Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Fluff, Molly Loves Christmas, POV Molly, POV Molly Hooper, Poor Molly, Sherlock Holmes Has Feelings, Sherlock Holmes Has a Heart, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Fluff, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing, Sherlock Is A Grinch, Sherlock is a Good Boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5406284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Sherlock and Molly’s first Christmas living together as a couple, and Molly’s starting to think it could very well be their last, as she’s starting to regret agreeing to marry a Grinch. But Sherlock surprises her by beginning to decorate the flat, albeit in an…interesting…way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternate Christmas Décor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raelynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raelynn/gifts).



> So I got hit with fic deadlines coming around all at once for some big things and got way behind on my [Christmas Fic Countdown](http://penaltywaltz.tumblr.com/post/134408122533/christmas-fic-countdown-2015), so I'm just going to write the ones that were asked for by others first, then the ones for my mom, then the ones I claimed. So the first one I picked to write was claimed by **Raelynn** for Day 10 and was inspired by the prompt " _TREE DECORATING (bonus points if one of them is doing it completely wrong omg why am i in love with you)_ " and my claimant said that Sherlock kept putting weird shit on the tree, hence...well, you'll see.

Molly loved Christmas. It was, without a doubt, her absolute favourite time of the year. She adored every aspect of the holiday, from the decorations to the films to the carols…all of it. As soon as December 1st rolled around she positively lit up with holiday cheer.

And _somehow_ she ended up dating the Grinch.

It had been fine while they lived in separate residences. The two years that they had been dating prior to moving in together had had them spending the majority of the month of December at a very barren Baker Street, though Sherlock had acquiesced at spending Christmas Eve at her very heavily decorated flat so they could spend the morning opening presents. He’d grimaced at the decorations all around, grumbling every once in a while, but the prospect of getting to spend his evening in her bed and his morning getting gifts had been enough to entice him.

But this year, after spending a week in Barbados for her birthday in the summer, he’d surprised her with an engagement ring and the suggestion that they move in together prior to the wedding. She hadn’t been hesitant in the slightest, but at the time she’d been so swept up in the romance of it all that she hadn’t thought of so many things that had to be ironed out later.

And this was one going to be one of those issues, she realized.

It was now December 7th, and the flat at Baker Street looked the same as it had on November 30th, and she was depressed by that. Sherlock didn’t seem to notice, however. How could he not? She was _obviously_ moping. Could he really be so blind? This did not bode well.

She sighed as she put her key in the door to let herself in. It had been a long day at work and she just felt like ordering takeaway and curling up on the sofa to watch a movie. She didn’t care if it was a Christmas film or not, she didn’t care if Sherlock joined her or not…and that bothered her. It shouldn’t be this way. She was celebrating her first Christmas as an engaged woman, considering that her engagement to Tom had ended before the holidays. She should be ecstatic, over the moon. She should be overjoyed, not miserable! Something needed to change.

She opened the door and then stopped, her eyes wide. This…was not how things had looked when she’d left this morning. Someone had decorated.

Someone with a rather morbid sense of taste.

There was greenery on the stairs, garlands entwined on the railings, but she could see that the lights weren’t the multicolored ones that she loved, or even plain white ones. They were skulls. She slowly made her way up to the flat and saw that there was a tree, a gorgeous large tree, devoid of decorations, and Sherlock was standing in the middle of a collection of boxes. She could see some of them said “Halloween” and some said “Christmas.” She shook her head and came over to him. “Sherlock?” she asked.

He turned, his eyes wide. “You were not supposed to be home for another hour,” he said.

She gave him a small smile. “It’s six twenty-three,” she said. “I’m actually running late.”

He frowned. “Oh.”

“Why did you pull out the Halloween decorations?” she asked. 

He shrugged. “I couldn’t find all of your Christmas decorations. I assumed as long as there were lights and things hanging on the tree, it wouldn’t make a difference.”

“It does make a _bit_ of a difference, Sherlock,” she said with a smile. “But…I suppose if you really want, maybe we can put one or two things on the tree.”

“It would make it more appealing to look at,” he said with a nod.

Molly’s smile got wider. “Then let’s look at the boxes and see what we want to put on the tree, shall we?” He nodded. They moved to her boxes and began digging through them, pulling out the various Christmas decorations as well as a few Halloween decorations that Sherlock said interested him enough to want to put on the tree. She had the feeling their tree was going to look quite different than what she was used to. Once they were done she walked around it. “How did you get the tree in here?”

“Graham helped,” he said. “I told him that you had been looking rather despondent and it was because you weren’t surrounded by your normal garish holiday cheer, and I wanted to surprise you with a tree and a decorated flat.”

“Have you ever decorated for the holiday before?” she asked as she began plotting where she wanted to put various decorations.

He shook his head. “My mum usually dominated doing it. She wanted everything to look just so. My brothers and I were never really invited to join in on the process, which I suppose soured it for me. Everything had to be ‘perfect’ so it was another thing I didn’t really enjoy.” She looked at him, and then went back to the box of Halloween decorations and pulled out a few more. He gave her a strange look and then raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“You like Halloween more, right? I mean, the decorations and things like that.” He nodded. “Then we’ll put more of that on the tree. We’ll make Christmas something you enjoy. We’ll make it so you want to be here in the flat and look at the decorations and the tree and all of it.”

“But it won’t be the way you want it,” he said with a frown.

“Well, it will be Christmassy, too,” she said. “I mean, we can get white lights for the tree and the flat instead of multi-coloured ones. And we can cut back on some of the cutesy things I have. I mean, the stairs don’t look too bad. And with you being you…”

“Everyone would expect it anyway,” he said quietly.

Molly nodded. “We’re going to have the rest of our lives to have our own family traditions and our own ways of doing things. And to hell with anyone who doesn’t like it.” She reached over for a hook and then picked up a small plastic skull that had a loop of string on it before putting it on the hook and handing it to Sherlock. “Why don’t you put the first ornament on?”

Sherlock gave her a smile, and then took the ornament from her, leaning in to kiss her for a moment. “Have I mentioned lately that you are, in fact, the perfect woman for me?” he murmured, not moving too far from her when he was done.

“Not lately,” she said with a smile.

“I’ll have to tell you more often, then,” he said. He gave her another kiss, a much quicker one this time, then pulled away to hang the skull on the tree. When he was done he went for another one of the Halloween decorations, a miniature skeleton, and went to hang it on the tree. Molly watched with a fond smile before getting the silver tinsel she had in one of the boxes. She had the feeling this was going to be one very interesting tree, but if it made Sherlock happy, then maybe they would both be full of the holiday spirit this year.


End file.
